Comedy fans know Greg Fitzsimmons for his show on SiriusXM's Howard 101 channel, his popular podcast Fitzdog Radio, and his stand-up comedy. Now, this Emmy-award-winning comedy writer can also be seen weekly on Speed's new game show "Pumped!"While appearing on Speed is new for Fitzsimmons, game shows are not. The MTV game show "Idiot Savants," which he hosted, won a Cable Ace award. Now he showcases his sense of humor to a motorsports enthusiast audience with "Pumped!," which has been described as "Cash Cab" at gas stations.When Fitzsimmons isn't on the road, his daily driver back home is a 2011 Toyota Prius, which he gives two different ratings. "As a practical car that runs well, gets good mileage, has all the most modern Bluetooth, screen, GPS, it's as good as it gets. So I'd give it a 9," he says. "As far as me having a midlife crisis and really wishing that I had a Dodge Challenger, I'd give it a 1. Driving around with a receding hairline and two kids in a Prius feels a bit boring for me."Fitzsimmons says his wife and kids talked him into getting the Prius. "They said, 'Daddy, do it for the environment!'" he says in a squeaky voice, mimicking his kids. "So I did and driving home from the lot, I felt empty inside. I felt like I made a huge mistake, because it was down to the Challenger or the Prius, which you couldn't get further away from each other."

Fitzsimmons points out he doesn't drive the way you'd expect the owner of a Prius to drive. "I'm sure people are shocked when they see a guy speeding and cutting them off and having road rage while in a Prius," he says. "It's just not usually the personality type driving a Prius. But there's this power button you can push that gives you a boost -- I'm sure it neutralizes whatever gas savings. The car is very quick if you put on that power button and then obviously you get the real mileage when you don't push the power button, but then it's very sluggish."One feature Fitzsimmons never uses is the backup camera. "I think there's a waste of space on the dash. They've got this screen and if you go into reverse, it shows you what you're backing up to," he says. "I don't think anybody in the history of driving that car actually trusts that. Yeah, I'm going to look at a TV screen and be able to gauge what's behind me. It's the most unsafe thing in the world because the only place you should be is looking when you're in reverse is over your shoulder."Always the comedian, Fitzsimmons relayed a story of how he looks in a Prius. "I think it's mostly a midlife crisis thing," he says of his unwillingness to fully embrace the Prius. "I pulled up to a red light in Beverly Hills and there was this really hot woman in a white Mercedes who pulled up next to me and I sat up straight and you're trying to look cool, and she looked right past me like I wasn't even there. She looked at her mirror and started popping a zit on her left cheek. Right in front of me. That's how little I registered as a guy in a Prius."Although Fitzsimmons didn't buy the car he really wanted, he did get to drive his brother-in-law's 1973 Dodge Challenger. "He's got it hooked up, he dropped a 404 into it, and we were on the Taconic State Parkway and I got it over 100 mph and that's pretty amazing when you think about a car that's 40 years old can do that. He brought his car onto the set and we used it for some of the games on 'Pumped!' I'm the only person he ever let drive it."2010 Toyota Highlander
Rating: 8"We never wanted an SUV and this seemed like a good compromise because my wife manages the kids' soccer team and sometimes we've got a ton of kids in the car and equipment," Fitzsimmons says. They didn't buy a hybrid because it was more expensive, but he says they don't put that many miles on the crossover."The Highlander was about the smallest car you could get that has a third row, besides a Volvo, but we didn't want a Volvo," he says. "It's got great visibility, a good engine, good wheels, it's just a safe car to be driving the kids around in. And it's pretty attractive for that kind of car. It's a decent price."Before they needed this larger car with a third row, Fitzsimmons had a Subaru Outback, which he loved. "We bought it in 2000 when we were driving out here from New York to move. It was the perfect car, because we go skiing and camping. When I work in San Francisco doing stand-up, I usually schedule it for July and we'll drive up the coast and camp in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Big Sur and we'll just camp our way up the coast and then we'll get to San Francisco and hang out there for four days. That was always a good car for that."Car He Regrets Selling"Before I got the Prius, I had a Passat, a nice V-6 Tiptronic, all-wheel drive and that was a badass car," Fitzsimmons says. "I made a mistake when I sold it."He felt it was time to sell it while it still looked good and he could get some decent money for it. "So I got it detailed and then I'm going to sell it and I was like, 'What am I doing? I love this car!' It was a monster on the road and you didn't expect it, because you're looking at a Volkswagen, but it really handled. That thing was as good as a BMW."
Early Stand-Up Days When comedians are first starting out, they often drive themselves to gigs, and the car that got Fitzsimmons through that time was a 1971 Chevy Bel Air.

He used to put cinder blocks in the trunk of the Bel Air to help weight it down during snowstorms. "I remember it was 19 feet long," he describes the car. "I remember driving up to Maine and there was a snowstorm and I remember fishtailing the entire way on the highway to get up there. Just trying to ease that gas just that right amount. There would be SUVs flying past me. It actually gripped the road pretty good for a rear-wheel-drive car. "The Bel Air once belonged to an old lady who bought it new and when she died, it sat in her garage for a few years. "There were hoses that dried out and I never went through and gutted it and put in fresh hoses, and eventually something was leaking oil and the engine just seized," Fitzsimmons says.

His philosophy on life spills out when he reveals why he held onto the Bel Air so long. "I drove it forever until I drove it into the ground when the engine finally seized," he says. "I just believe in life in general. I bought this house 11 years ago and I don't think we're going to move for a long time. I got married many years ago and I don't plan on leaving her. I don't like to change things too much. I think pretty hard about things before I jump in and once I do, I feel, 'All right, I don't want to waste the energy of buying, selling this, going on Consumer Reports, test driving, buying, selling a house. I feel life is to be lived. You want to spend your time doing things and being with friends and all that. The rest of this is just consumerism and it's a huge waste of time."